Stationery From Duncan Shotton Design Studios

After a week that was, well, a touch frustrating and stressful, and now that we're heading into the final stretch before the holidays, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some recently arrived stationery products that are just that - fun! You may recall Tokyo-based, British Duncan Shotton from the "Rainbow Pencils" Kickstarter that launched and successfully funded several years back. Not only are the Rainbow Pencils still going strong five years later, but they're now joined by some other great travel/ufo/paranormal-themed stationery, which of course I ordered immediately. 

These sticky page markers are an excellent alternative to boring 3M plastic flags. (Fellow office drones, you know what I'm talking about here.) 

The Rainbow Pencils are made from layers of colored recycled paper, so as you sharpen them you get the "Rainbow effect." (See below). 

A pretty poor showing of what the Rainbow Pencil can do, but the only sharpener I had within reach was cheap (and, apparently, very dull). These rainbow pencils have dark, soft graphite that's a pleasure to write with. 

Planet Push Pins (and the Moon Push Pin - not to scale) in action, with the stamps that carried my order from Tokyo! 

Godzilla Stickers anyone? I received these as freebies with my order! 

Takeaways and Where to Buy

I'm 100% on board with what Duncan Shotton is doing here, and I'll be looking to pick up some more of his stationery (and perhaps some other products) after I replenish the budget for 2018. If any of this interests you, you can order in one of two places. I purchased via the Duncan Shotton Etsy store, which has all of the products featured in this post. There's a somewhat larger web store on his main site, with additional items that don't appear on Etsy (like these Nessie-themed push pins).   

Disclaimer: Though I purchased all of the products featured in this post with my own funds, for my own use, I am an Etsy affiliate. All of the links in this post are affiliate links, and I am compensated a small amount for any sales made through these links. 

Review: Baron Fig Mastermind and Nomad

Of all the seemingly never-ending stream of products coming out of Baron Fig these days, the ones that have me the most excited might be the ones that have received the least fanfare. A week or so back, Baron Fig announced the launch of the "Mastermind" desk pad and the "Nomad" sticky notes. Both fill a gaping hole in my stationery arsenal. 

The Mastermind

I'm always on the lookout for a good desk pad. I've experimented with various formats, from the cheapest of At-A-Glance tear-off blotter calendars, to Levenger Oasis Pads, to the Rhodia No. 38. The blotter calendar holds a special place in my heart, since it's what I used on my desk from high school through college, and I loved that at the end of the month you would have a collage of various notes, lists, telephone numbers, doodles, scratches, you-name-it for the past 30 days. Sometimes, of course, you'd forget to tear off the page for two or three months, and then you'd really have some exceptionally interesting works of art. 

While the Mastermind ships with a card-stock cover, you're meant to tear it off and discard. It doesn't fold over like Rhodia's No. 38 pad. 

The point was that I never actually used it as a calendar. Rather, it was a giant scratchpad that I had at my disposal while I worked on whatever it was I was doing at my desk. Of course, as I grew older and started using rollerballs, fountain pens, and other wet writers, the blotter calendar grew less useful and I stopped using desk pads entirely. I still break out the Levenger Oasis from time to time for brainstorming sessions, but it's an awkward size for me: too small to use as a true desk blotter, but too large to have sitting to the side while you work on a keyboard or with another notebook open in front of you. It's more of a lap-based tool to use while you're in an armchair or on the couch. 

The Baron Fig Mastermind "in writing mode." The pad is a great size for my desk. The paper seems to be standard Baron Fig paper stock, which I find fountain pen friendly enough for my day-to-day needs, and especially enjoyable to use with pencils. 

This is where the Mastermind excels. Baron Fig's desk pad is big enough pad (8" x 12") to make it useful for sketching out ideas on a larger canvas, but it's still small enough to be unobtrusive. Some might prefer the slightly larger, 80-sheet Rhodia No. 38 pad, but I prefer the Baron Fig paper because it's some of the most pencil-friendly paper out there. For brainstorming and sketching out ideas, I enjoy using a pencil. That said, if you're looking for a pad of paper with sturdy backing and a fold-over cover that you can take with you and use as a sort of lap desk, the larger Rhodia pad might be more your thing.      

The Nomad

The Nomad sticky notes ship in packs of three. They're a standard 3" x 3" size. 

I recall there being a debate on the Pen Addict Podcast a few episodes back about the best fountain-pen friendly sticky note. I'm not a sticky-note or Post-it connoisseur, but I do use them frequently. Honestly, it doesn't really bother me whether or not a sticky note is particularly high-quality, much less "fountain pen friendly," though often a super-cheap generic sticky note will feather uncontrollably with anything other than a pencil or a ballpoint pen. Fortunately, my office stocks the Post-It Super Sticky, which generally works well enough for my needs. 

Since I know people will ask for it: a writing sample with fountain pens on the Nomad sticky note. The TWSBI 580 with Diamine ink in a medium nib didn't feather all that much but bled through. The H-F Sailor nib with Sailor ink worked the best.  

So what's the niche for the Baron Fig Nomad? For me, I just like having a dot-grid sticky note, and the slightly-textured paper is nice to write on, even if it's a bit thin. The paper seems like a lighter-weight version of the standard Baron Fig paper. For the true paper geeks out there, the Nomad actually resists feathering fairly well, though wet fountain pens will definitely bleed-through. (Again, I don't really care whether a sticky note suffers from "bleed through," since I've never used the back of one in my life, but if this is something that concerns you I'd recommend that you stick to EF and EEF nibs, or very dry inks.)  

Takeaways/Where to Buy

While these are definitely "YMMV" products, depending on how you work and what you're specific needs are, I'm grateful to Baron Fig for putting these out there, especially the Mastermind. I picked up two packs: one for home and one for work. The Mastermind runs $15 for a pack of two pads at 35 sheets each. which is roughly comparable to the 80-sheet Rhodia No. 38. The Nomad runs $8 for a three-pack of 70-sheet pads, which is more expensive than your standard post-it but still fair. You can buy both directly from Baron Fig.

Disclaimer: I purchased all of the products featured in this review with my own funds for my own use. This post does contain affiliate links.  

Introducing the Baron Fig Askew Confidant Limited Edition

Well, Baron Fig did it, for all you doubters out there who met the company's announcement of multiple simultaneous subscription services for as many as four different product lines with skepticism that they could maintain their creative edge. I'm still not sure what, exactly, they're going to be doing with all those limited editions, but the newest version, Askew, makes it clear that it probably won't be boring.

Even the inside cover is hand-colored, with blue ballpoint.

Askew, a collaboration with graphic designer Debbie Millman, is entirely hand drawn, from the inside cover pages to the ruling on the paper itself. Spoiler alert (not really): the hand-drawn lines aren't straight, and on a handful of pages they even cross or devolve into scribbles. Obviously, you're not going to be able to use these pages as you would a typical notebook, but that's clearly not what Ms. Millman and Baron Fig were going for here. The goal of this particular edition is to foster creativity by encouraging people to think "outside the lines." Personally, I really like it, and can see myself using this book as an offbeat journal or for brainstorming sessions.   

Everyone has focused on the "usability" of Askew, and whether it was wise for Baron Fig to include this unusual notebook as part of Baron Fig's subscription service. That's a fair question, and one that I've addressed before in my review of the "Black Box" Vanguard notebook. Those who were considering a Confidant subscription, thinking that they would definitely get a standard notebook each quarter - as in, one they can use to take notes at work - may now have to reconsider whether they want to subscribe or purchase on a "wait & see" basis. Of course, Baron Fig could always avoid the issue by doing what Field Notes does - offer subscribers the opportunity to exchange the Limited Edition notebook for a standard Confidant of their choice, if they so choose.

The vibrant violet color of this notebook really changes things up for Baron Fig. I like it, especially the red bookmark. 

What's more interesting to me here is the collaboration aspect of this edition, and what it says about Baron Fig's prospects. Debbie Millman is a big deal in the design community: She hosts the wildly popular "Design Matters" podcast, and has been a guest on many other well-known podcasts, including the Tim Ferriss Show. That Baron Fig is attracting collaborators like Ms. Millman bodes well for the future, and I'm excited to see what else they have lined up. 

Where to Buy 

You can buy the Askew Limited Edition via Baron Fig's website for $20. If you're interested in subscribing to the Confidant quarterly subscription service (or one of the others that Baron Fig offers), you can do so here.   

Disclaimer: Baron Fig sent me this product for review purposes at no charge. 

Introducing the Pencil Crown, from Elegant Utility

Here's something for all you pencil fans out there. Elegant Utility, an Etsy seller based in Long Island, New York, has developed a neat product that adds better balance to uncapped pencils. The product is called the Pencil Crown, and it's a small piece of brass, slightly larger than your typical ferrule + eraser, that slides over the end of the pencil.

The Pencil Crown should fit most untipped pencils fairly easily. 

I'm one of those people that ordinarily prefers a pencil with an eraser because I think, in general, they are more comfortable to write with. The weight of the ferrule gives the pencil a more comfortable balance in your hand, and the Pencil Crown makes up for this on a pencil that otherwise lacks an eraser. Technically, you can use the Pencil Crown with any pencil, provided you first remove the ferrule or dipped end, but I think I'll end up using this more for uncapped pencils like the Caran d'Ache Grafik pictured here.

The Pencil Crown gives a nice weight to pencils that I would otherwise find too light. 

A huge thank you to Michael at Elegant Utility for sending this Pencil Crown over for review. If this product interests you, please visit the Elegant Utility Etsy store. In addition to the Pencil Crown, Elegant Utility also sells a version of the Pencil Crown with an eraser, the Pencil Pal (best described as their version of the bullet pencil), and the Pencil Companion (a pencil holder/extender), among other unique objects. 

Disclaimer: The Pencil Crown was sent to me free of charge by Elegant Utility for review purposes. 

Kustom Haus Wax Seal Stamps: First Impressions

Wax seal stamps are one of those stationery trends that fall so far outside of my experience/comfort zone that it took me a while to consider how I might work them into my rotation. Well, actually, it took one of my sponsors, Karl from Kustom Haus, sending me a full set of stamps and supplies to get me to even consider giving this a try. Now that I’ve done it, what do I think? It’s fun. A LOT of fun, and it has the potential to add a new level of awesome to your written correspondence and packaged gifts. While it remains to be seen how often I’ll actually have the occasion to seal things with my personalized insignia, I have been making an effort to write more letters.  If you’d like one, you can write me at my address below, and if Father Kyle would be kind enough to send me his new coordinates, I promise I’ll get around to responding to the letter he wrote me in February.  (To be fair, it took him around 6 months to respond to me, so we should be cool, especially once he gets a letter sealed with a classy wax stamp.) 

Kustom Haus provided me with two stamps: one with my customized blog logo (which is, of course, my favorite), and another with a moustache symbol, which is a standard design.

I’ve decided to let the pictures “do the talking” in this post. Wax-seal stamping is such a visual and tactile process that there’s really no point trying to accurately describe it (other than it makes you feel like a total badass). Many thanks to Karl at Kustom Haus in Melbourne, Australia for sending over this set. Each stamp comes with a turned wooden handle, and you can also purchase kits that include a cloth storage bag, a candle, and a melting spoon. Please check out what Kustom Haus has to offer - I owe them a solid for introducing me to a side of the stationery community I probably wouldn’t have explored if left to my own, less adventurous devices. 

Thumbs-up to Kustom Haus for their packaging!

Kustom Haus's sealing wax kits are well assembled and presented. 

The turned wooden handles of my stamps are beautiful. 

Karl sent me flexible wax sticks, which also fit in a standard glue gun if you don't feel like heating your wax in a spoon over a candle. I've not tried the glue gun method.

The wax melts relatively quickly (around a minute or two). If you don't want to use the candle or the glue gun, Kustom Haus also sells traditional wax sticks with wicks, though that wax is said to be more brittle and may not last very long in the mail. 

First attempt: I didn't use enough wax.

Better!

Eventually I got the hang of it. Some wax seals turned out better than others.  

As I mentioned above, if you write me a letter, I'll do my best to respond (with one of my new wax stamps)! You can send snail mail to: The Gentleman Stationer, P.O. Box 681294, Franklin, Tennessee 37068.  As always, thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: The product featured in this review was sent to me free of charge for review purposes.